Candyce D. Tart – Research

Candyce D. Tart

The research of Candyce D. Tart, a doctoral candidate in the SMU Psychology Department’s Anxiety Research and Treatment Program, was featured on Medscape.com.

Tart presented the research recently at the Anxiety Disorders Association of America 30th Annual Conference. Tart collaborated on the research with principal investigator Jitender Sareen M.D., associate professor and director of research in the Psychiatry Department at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.

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According to the Medscape.com article, the researchers “found that the obesity rate among individuals taking antidepressants during the past 12 months was 1.5 times greater compared with individuals not taking the medications. In addition, the obesity rate among subjects taking antipsychotics was more than double.”

The study relied on a large, nationally representative sample of 36,984 participants who were participants in the Canadian Community Health Survey Mental Health and Well-being.

Tart is quoted in the article as saying: “There are issues that haven’t really been addressed in a population that already is at risk for unhealthy behaviors, since the risk for obesity is added on top of their mental illness.”

Excerpt:

By Crina Frincu-Mallos, PhD
Medscape.com
March 8, 2010 (Baltimore, Maryland) — Psychotropic medications, specifically antidepressants and antipsychotics, are associated with higher rates of obesity, new national data suggest.

The research, presented here at the Anxiety Disorders Association of America 30th Annual Conference, shows that the obesity rate among individuals taking antidepressants during the past 12 months was 1.5 times greater compared with individuals not taking these medications. In addition, the obesity rate among subjects taking antipsychotics was more than double.

A collaboration between researchers from the United States and Canada, the study examined the relationship between obesity and specific classes of psychotropic medications, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, hypnotics, and mood stabilizers, in a large, nationally representative sample of 36,984 participants.

Study subjects were participants in the Canadian Community Health Survey Mental Health and Well-being.

Read “Psychotropic Medications Linked to Increased Rates of Obesity“ at Medscape.com. Free registration is required to access the article.

Related links:
SMU Psychology Department’s Anxiety Research and Treatment Program

Each year more than 1 million children in the United States are brought to shelters to escape family violence. Each of their families reports, on average, more than 60 acts of aggression at home during the past year, ranging from pushes and shoves to hits and kicks. More than half of the families report an incident involving a knife or gun.

“Research that studies children who witness violence in the home is fundamental to helping them,” says Paige Flink, executive director of The Family Place in Dallas. The Family Research Center, a new program of SMU’s Psychology Department in Dedman College, works with shelters such as The Family Place to address the mental health problems of children facing domestic violence.

Family violence affects children’s physical health as well, says Candyce Tart, a second-year Ph.D. student in SMU’s clinical psychology program. Tart’s years of experience in pediatric nursing, mostly in inner-city school environments, sparked an interest in the psychology of her patients’ families.

“Many of these children’s illnesses were made worse by stress at home,” she says. “All sorts of psychological factors in their lives seemed to impact their lives more than physical health.”

Tart studies conduct-disordered children from dysfunctional or abusive families through the Family Research Center as part of her dissertation on biological and physiological underpinnings of behavioral problems.

“I’d like to know why some children come out of these violent households with more behavior or emotional problems, and others more resilient,” she says.

SMU’s faculty, especially its revitalized clinical psychology program under Psychology Department Chair Ernest Jouriles, had a lot to do with Tart’s decision to attend the University, she says.

“Ernest Jouriles is developing a fantastic research program with the facilities and support for doing research,” says Tart. “We have so much equipment available, as well as access into shelters and other community and clinical locations. And it’s a very collaborative environment. Not all schools have that.”